URLs du Jour

Brink has some nasty things to say about President Trump and some snide things to say about libertarians. That tells me who he’s prepared to subtract from the Republican Party, so that he can feel better about supporting it. But whatever this might achieve in terms of crawling out of the hole intellectually, I don’t see how it can do anything other than put Republicans deeper in the hole electorally.

Brink's advice may be read
here.
Read that if you'd like, but I feel he's underestimating the
difficulty of competing with Democrats by offering shiny free
goodies to the citizenry. If you offer 16, the Democrats will
counter with 32.

Rep. Judith Spang isn’t afraid to tell you what she thinks about all those terrible plastic shopping bags you’re using at the grocery store—even if you’re a total stranger.

“I was walking out of the grocery store and I saw a woman with so many plastic bags in her cart it looked like it was about to take flight,” Rep. Spang told NHJournal. “She appeared to be an upscale person, so I approached her, held up my [reusable] bag and said ‘Hey—how about trying one of these?’”

Yes, Judith Spang is the kind of person who wants to tell you
how to run your life to her satisfaction. And to channel
Monty
Python: she's not only proud of that, she's downright smug about
it.

President Trump's recent threat to use "the military version of eminent domain" to seize property for his border wall highlights the ways in which building the wall would harm the property rights of Americans. Less widely recognized is the fact that the wall policy is just part of a larger pattern of administration policy initiatives and legal positions that threaten property rights on multiple fronts.

Immigration is one issue where my inner Schrödinger's Cat puts me
more on the conservative side of the conservative/libertarian split.
But the wall is stupid, and not just for its potential for eminent
domain abuse..

But RTWT for the story on other issues impacting property rights as
well.

If President Trump begins to imitate Barack Obama in issuing dubious executive orders and trampling on private-property rights, he could find himself in trouble even with portions of his base.

Changing tactics would be the best way for Trump to end the stalemate that has shut down one-fourth of the government for more than two weeks. He should brand Congress as irresponsible on the issue of border security and say he’s been forced to direct the Defense Department to use some of its unallocated funds for border construction projects.

Doing it that way, the president would probably score points on the political argument and ensure that, come the 2020 election, he will have actually built something along the border rather than just talking about it.

Also would have the desirable side effect of making Democrats
sputter incoherently. Not that they are having trouble with that
currently.

During an interview on "60 Minutes," Anderson Cooper put this question to Ocasio-Cortez: "When people hear the word socialism, they think Soviet Union, Cuba, Venezuela. Is that what you have in mind?"

Her response: "Of course not. What we have in mind — and what of my — and my policies most closely resemble what we see in the U.K., in Norway, in Finland, in Sweden."

IBD notes, yes, that many policies in those countries are
actually more capitalist than the US's status quo. While
the US ranks #6 on Cato's/Fraser's
Economic
Freedom of the World, the UK is number 9, Norway is 25, Finland
22, Sweden 43.

Hawaii regains the title of healthiest state this year, after dropping to No. 2 in 2017. This is Hawaii’s ninth year in the No. 1 spot since 1990 when the health rankings were first published. The state has been No 1. four of the past five years. Massachusetts is No. 2, Connecticut No. 3, Vermont No. 4 and Utah No. 5. These same states ranked in the top five in 2017.

… and New Hampshire makes the number 6 spot. Despite all the opioid
overdosing.
(But beware, the
methodology
used has a number of factors that at best only
indirectly reflect actual health.)

The man behind two of the most memorable American songs of the past
half-century died last month. Norman Gimbel composed lyrics for “The
Girl From Ipanema” and “Killing Me Softly.” But if you grew up in
the 1970s and ’80s, you may be more familiar with his less
prestigious songs: the themes to “Happy Days” and “Laverne & Shirley.”

If you are of a Certain Age, Mr. Scalia will almost certainly jog
some pleasant memories for you. For me it was Johnny Mathis and
Deniece Williams singing the Family Ties theme: "Show me that
smile again…". Sigh.

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